Anacor says GSK stops development of antibiotic

(Reuters) - Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc said its partner GlaxoSmithKline Plc stopped the development of their mid-stage experimental antibiotic to treat urinary tract and intra-abdominal infections.

The drug, codenamed GSK2251052, was licensed to Glaxo by Anacor in July 2010. In February, Glaxo stopped enrolling patients in trials after the company identified disease-causing microorganisms that could hurt the efficacy of the drug.

Anacor said Glaxo had conducted additional pre-clinical research and assessed various options before it chose to discontinue further development of the drug.

Anacor, which has a market value of about $215 million, was eligible to receive development milestones up to $75 million, commercial milestones up to $175 million and double-digit tiered royalties with the potential to reach the high-teens on annual net sales of the antibiotic.

However, Anacor said Glaxo will continue to fund its research in tuberculosis.

Anacor's pipeline of five experimental drugs is based on the boron compound. The company claims the unique geometry of boron-based compounds and boron's reactivity gives them the ability to interact with biological targets in novel ways, thereby helping develop new drugs.

The biopharmaceutical company's shares were trading down about 2 percent at $6.69 on Friday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Adithya Venkatesan in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)